Six tail-tangled squirrels in Regina got themselves out of a knotty situation thanks to the help of the Regina Animal Clinic. Here's how the rescue went down:
(All photos used with permision of the Animal Clinic of Regina. Visit their Facebook page.)

The squirrels had their tails knotted together when first discovered by city workers, who brought them to the Animal Clinic of Regina.

Here the six juvenile grey squirrels are put into an anesthetic tank to sedate them.

Working quickly, as the squirrels would not be sedated for very long, Dr. Pomarenski and vet assistant Megan Gibson unravelled the tails by starting from the squirrels' bodies outwards.

As they were unravelled, the squirrels began waking up. A few were given an anesthetic mask (bottom left) as they woke up so quickly.

After they were separated, the squirrels' tails were shaved of matted fur and cleaned.

Once the squirrels had been cleaned, they were given a kennel to recover in. Two days later they were released.

“It’s a pretty rare thing to see but I have seen it happen once before,” Dr. Steven Kruzeniski told Metro. He explained to the Huffington Post Canada that sometimes sap from trees can cause squirrel tails to become matted and sticky.

Kruzeniski said the animals were quite lucky. If the tails had been tangled for a long period of time sometimes they would have to be amputated.

Kruzeniski examined the animas, gave them anesthesia which knocked them out and then proceeded to untangle them.

"You just have to untie them like you would any knot. Untying them one at a time, shaving the tails, until they’re free," he explained.

The whole procedure only took about half-an-hour but they kept the animals under observation to make sure that they'd survive in the wild.

Kruzeniski also explained that the bald-tailed squirrels would be OK. "We’re hoping that they’ll grow back in a couple of months. But they can still do pretty well," he said.